Wiener apologizes for ‘joke’ e-mail

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A Bernalillo County Commissioner has apologized for forwarding a racially insensitive joke by e-mail to other government employees.

Michael Wiener told News 13 he had a lapse of judgment in sending the e-mail to a number of high-ranking city and county officials.

“Obviously, it was a poor attempt at humor,” Wiener told News 13 by telephone from Las Vegas Friday afternoon. “It’s not something I created, it’s something I forwarded that I shouldn't have, and I'm deeply apologetic for doing that.”

News 13 is not releasing the full text of the e-mail due to the inappropriate nature of the joke. However, the joke makes reference to President Barack Obama, African-Americans, showers and prisons.

Wiener said he is not a racist.

“I certainly have no track record of doing anything to undermine race relations,” Wiener told News 13. “I have many, many friends who are African American.”

Albuquerque NAACP Chapter President Lena Brown found little humor in the e-mail.

“That’s ugly any way you look at it,” Brown said.

Brown is currently in Oklahoma attending an NAACP Convention.

When told that Wiener apologized for the e-mail, Brown indicated he should at least make a more public apology since he’s a public figure.

Wiener called the entire incident a “lapse of judgment.”

However, Brown remains skeptical.

“The damage is done,” Brown told News 13. “Here's my problem. If he has this lapse of judgment, what's to say he won't do it again?”